Hi Everyone! :)

Hear Again

Hear Again

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I'm new to the board and wanted to introduce myself. I'm deafblind (totally blind and profoundly deaf). I was born totally blind but didn't start to lose my hearing until I was in my teens. I was diagnosed with a mild hearing loss at age 3 but didn't receive my first pair of hearing aids until age 15. Since then my hearing has continued to decline. I've had severe-profound hearing loss for the past 10 years and have been communicating with the use of tactile sign, NexTalk TTY software, TeleBraille, Tellatouch, print on palm or Braille/raised print alphabet card. After a good deal of research and serious consideration, I decided to be evaluated for a CI. I had CI surgery last month and couldnt have asked for a smoother recovery! Better yet, my CI was activated 6 days ago and all I can say is *WOW* what an awesome experience! I am not yet at the point where I can understand speech, but I know this will come in time. At any rate, I look forward to being a part of alldeaf!! <smile>

Hear Again
 
Hello and welcome to Alldeaf 'hear again'!! I'm glad that you found this site and I know you'll enjoy being here...anyhow, hope you will feel at home, also, enjoy your stay as well!!
 
Hello Hear again,

Welcome to AD, and enjoy your stay here! ;)
 
welcome to ALLDEAF! I almost got CI, but the doctors refused to perform the surgery on my ear, just because they don't want to be bothered with me since they don't know how to work with profoundly deaf and Cerebral Palsy clients like me.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! It's good to be here! <smile>

rjr2006: I'm really sorry this happened to you. If you don't mind my asking, did your CI team give you a reason why they wouldn't implant you besides the fact that you have CP?
 
G'day Hear Again,

Welcome to AD! Sounds like you've got great programs there to help you navigate your way around the net as well communicating with the others. :)

What brand of CI did you get?

Cheers! :wave:
 
Miss-Delectable: Thanks for the welcome! :)

I have the Nucleus 24C with 3G speech processor. I originally chose Advanced Bionics' HiRes 90K, but after learning about the recall, I changed my mind and decided to have the N24C because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wondering, "What if?" "What if something goes wrong with my implant?" While *all* implants have the potential to fail, I didn't want to take a chance on a device that was recently taken off the market because of a recall. So far, I've been very pleased with the N24C/3G and if I had to do it all over again, I would! :)
 
CelestialSnow: Hi there! Thanks for the welcome! I'm doing great and am having a blast reading the boards. I look forward to chatting with you and everyone else on alldeaf! :)
 
welcome aboard!! and best of luck with your CI.. it will be interesting to hear your experience with it! :thumb:
 
Zesty: Thanks! :) I'm currently in the process of writing an online journal about my CI experiences from a deafblind person's perspective. As soon as I finish editing it, I'll be sure to pass the URL along so everyone here can follow my progress. Stay tuned! :)
 
Welcome!!!!!! Interesting story there! Do you have a syndrome of some sort? Do you identify strongly as Deaf b/c u lost some of ur hearing at a young age, or do you ID more as Blind?
since they don't know how to work with profoundly deaf and Cerebral Palsy clients like me.
Click to expand...
That's odd....they've opened up the criteria so that even kids with MR or other developmental issues qualify to be implanted! Double check at another implantation center!
 
deafdyke: When I could hear well enough to communicate in a variety of environments, I felt more comfortable in the blind community. Most of the people I knew in the blind community were friends I had known since kindergarten or 1st grade.

As my hearing became worse and I found it more difficult to communicate, I felt more like an outsider when I was around blind people. Even when I brought an SSP or interpreter with me, I still found it difficult to communicate and integrate with others because of the time it took to communicate or describe something to me in tactile sign. Some blind people just didn't have the patience and stopped talking to me because it took "too much time."

After I began learning sign, I started participating more in the Deaf community. I always found people who encouraged me (no matter how poorly I signed at the time - LOL!) and made me feel welcome as a part of the greater community even though I couldn't see. For some people, it was the first time they met a deafblind person and because of that, they were interested in how I communicated with others, used the computer, a TTY or traveled independently in my neighborhood.

Even now after 10 years of severe-profound hearing loss, I still feel more comfortable in the Deaf community. My hearing loss/deafness has always been something I've struggled with personally and perhaps it is for that reason I feel a closer bond with people who are HoH or deaf. :)
 
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